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October 23, 2010
Cornwall
Different sources of information are revealing the scale of the closure of the library service in Cornwall.
At present there are 35 libraries spread throghout the county, which is not a lot for such a dispersed population.
Different plans Perkins has seen reduce this to 12, 9 or even just 3 libraries.. So at a minimum we seem to be contemplating 23 closures, but it could be 32.
A couple of years ago, when the council were stuggling to make the ends of their library budget meet I offered to help them set some priorities and reduce needless costs. The councillor seemed willing and keen. But the chief librarian stopped the work going ahead.
Around the country the proposals for closures and the detailed plans for reductions are generally coming from Chief librarians and senior officers. There is no doubt of the budget pressure, but how to handle it is what is in question.
We should be cutting overhead and not services, but budgets are rarely presented so that a councillor can distinguish the two.
Posted by Perkins at October 23, 2010 9:39 AM
Comments
Perkins: thanks for highlighting our troubles in Cornwall. The council appear to be repeating Wirral's mistake in selecting an arbitrary number of libraries to keep - 9 from 2012 plus mobile libraries I think if the current recommendation is passed. Just three if they are what they describe as radical. The conclusions have been derived for budgetary reasons rather than an analysis of local needs.
Can someone less out of touch than I tell me other than a change of government whether anything has occurred which would alter the Wirral enquiry's interpretation of a comprehensive and efficient service?
For the record Cornwall has 32 branch libraries three very small located in primary schools, 4 mobile libraries, 1 mobile library that visits sheltered housing and old people's homes, a music and drama library which is within St Austell branch library, a Cornish Studies Library and a virtual reference library.
Posted by: Phil at October 23, 2010 2:18 PM
It is though relatively easy to put things in a way that almost anyone can understand.
http://somersethedgerows.blogspot.com
Its a combination of what the chief librarian in Somerset has said for some time, with my own experiences and opinion lobbed in.
Posted by: Andrew Preston at October 26, 2010 8:25 AM